Practicing Gratitude

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. Hebrews 12:28

Did you notice that God links acceptable worship with gratitude? You and I cannot properly revere God, dear one, without recognizing that He is the source of every good thing.

Does your heart sing with gratitude for all He has done for you?

Because you and I are human, sometimes we struggle with that. It’s easy to overlook our blessings because our hearts remain focused on whatever we feel we lack.

Let’s not let that happen today, beloved. Let’s lift our hearts in gratitude to the One who gave it all.

In this season of Thanksgiving, before we get too distracted by turkey fixings and homemade pies, I’d like to share with you a few of the things that I’m thankful for.

I am most thankful for the gift of life given to me in Jesus.

I’m thankful that He forgives, even when I struggle to do so.

And I am so very grateful that He provides strength in my weakness.

I’m thankful for my mom and dad, who have loved me well and pointed me toward Jesus.

I am especially thankful for my husband, Steve, who is my very best friend.

I’m thankful for his leadership, and his prayer covering over my life and ministry.

I’m thankful that God chose to grace my man with the gift of giving, and I get to witness God use him to impact lives over and over again.

I’m thankful my husband is letting Jesus transform his heart, and that my sons can know that Jesus is real from what they’ve witnessed in their father’s life.

I am thankful for my boys, Austin and Mason, who I love more than words can say. It seems a miracle that God entrusted them to me.

I love how individual they are. And I love how they love each other and always feel bad when they fight.

I’m extremely thankful that my teenage sons still enjoy spending time with us.

And I’m thankful that God has a plan for each of them that far surpasses anything I could plan.

I’m thankful for laughter every day in our home.

I’m thankful for in-laws who showed me that it’s fun to make time for Jesus each day, even on vacation.

I’m thankful for friends who love Jesus, especially the amazing sisters God has gifted me through His Son.

I’m grateful my sisters love me in spite of me, and that they’re always there to lift my arms when I no longer have the strength to hold them myself.

I’m expressly thankful for the ability to enjoy food.

And I’m thankful for dogs, especially our Annie and Jack, for their wholehearted devotion and their love of snuggling.

I’m also grateful that puppies grow into dogs, and that Resolve carpet cleaner leaves a fresh scent.

I could go on, but I may be keeping you from your holiday celebrations.

Still, before you get too busy preparing to sit at your holiday tables and feast on your family’s favorite dishes, I pray you will spend some moments considering all that you have to be grateful for. And as your thoughts linger on your blessings, remember the One who is responsible for them all.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Happy Thanksgiving, dear one. May your holiday be blessed, marked by the presence of the King.

Are You Changing the World?

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”

John 17:15

I find it interesting that as Jesus knelt in the garden preparing to go to the cross, He clarified what He was not praying.

Did you notice that? Think about it for a moment. I don’t think I’ve ever knelt before God and told Him what I wasn’t praying for. I’m far too focused on the result I’m after. Yet that’s exactly what Jesus did.

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world.”

I think it’s safe to assume that since God is already aware of our thoughts and knows our prayers before we utter them, Jesus meant those words for us. He wanted to be clear. “I am not praying that you be taken out of the world. What I want is your protection while you’re in it.”

Perhaps you haven’t considered this thought before: 

Jesus wants you and I in the world.

That may seem an odd statement to you, especially if you had a church background like mine that stressed the importance of 2 Corinthians 6:16-17,

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:  “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”  Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate,” says the Lord.

I think we’ve stumbled upon one of those teachable moments when God moves us beyond the surface meaning of a text and opens a window to His heart.

In 2 Corinthians 6, God clearly indicates His desire for us to separate from the world. And yet Jesus prayed that He didn’t want His disciples out of the world. In fact, He clarified His point in John 17:18 when He prayed to the Father,

“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” (emphasis mine)

So here’s our quandary: Jesus wants us in the world, yet separate from it. I never said following Christ would be easy.

But let’s be honest; easy is usually what we prefer, so we tend to pick one or the other.

Some go into the world but neglect to separate from it. They associate themselves with Jesus, but they don’t look much like Him. They raise grace as a banner to do what they please, adopting the world’s principles and claiming that love shouldn’t offend anyone. They do, however, manage to offend those choosing the separation route.

Many who “separate” from the world fill their schedules with church events and only associate with church people. They avoid people who are too “worldly,” but neglect to ask God what worldly really means. So they come up with a list of things that denote worldliness and do their best to avoid them—things like drinking, dancing, smoking and tattoos—but they give little thought to God’s list.

In case you’re wondering, here’s a partial list He provided in Romans 1:29-31.

Wickedness, evil, greed, depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slander, arrogant, boastful, disobedient, faithless, heartless . . .

Hmm. I can understand the temptation to focus on the drinking and smoking. Behavior modification is much simpler than what God’s after. To avoid the things on His list—things like greed, envy, gossip, disobedience, and arrogance—we need real heart transformation. Come to think of it, that’s exactly what Jesus indicated when He prayed about sending His disciples into the world.

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me . . . I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:15-18, emphasis mine)

Do you see it, dear one? Go into the world, but don’t be of the world. That’s our calling as Christians. You and I are supposed to carry Jesus into the world, and our presence there will affect change because we are not the same substance as the world we’re in.

Great plan. Our problem has been that most of us have remained so much like the world that we’ve made no difference in it. We may follow a few biblical rules, but our hearts are still bound to the same selfish desires that govern everyone else. We seek comfort and prosperity instead of Jesus. We allow bitterness and unforgiveness to drown out love. We choose ambition instead of humility.

Beloved, darkness has no effect on darkness. It just gets lost within it.

Only light can transform darkness, dear one. And light only becomes possible when we allow Jesus to sanctify our hearts. “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

You and I need to stop simulating righteousness by manipulating the outward things we do. Pretending, after all, bears the mark of the father of lies. 

We need Jesus to cleanse us from the inside out so that real Light can emerge. Change the heart, and our actions will follow.

You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence . . . First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Matthew 23:25-26

What would happen if each of us set our hearts on God’s priority goal? Transformation into the character of Jesus by the power of the Spirit through the washing of the Word.

The armies of darkness would weaken and crumble in the face of divine Light. Love would advance, and healing would take place in broken lives.

That’s your mission, dear one. Will you let Jesus use you to change the world?

 

Surrender Without Trust

“The one who trusts will never be dismayed.” Isaiah 28:16b

The Lord stirred up a fresh thought in Bible study this week that I find myself still chewing on. I tend to process things better when I share them, so I’m inviting you in for a taste. Here’s the morsel.

Surrender differs from trust.

I’ll give you a moment to bite down.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably linked these two together in your mind. After all, it seems logical that we won’t surrender if we don’t trust. If we commit to the act of surrendering to God, it must mean we trust Him, right?

Clearly surrender and trust intertwine. But are they one and the same? Is it possible to surrender in obedience to God without trusting Him?

I can’t seem to let go of the thought. Perhaps this could explain why our acts of surrender aren’t always met with grace.

Think about it. Have you ever struggled to obey God and wondered why your obedience didn’t result in real change? Why you fell short of God-powered transformation?

I’m reminded of an area in my life that I have repeatedly surrendered to God in prayer. I have tried to choose obedience, fully expecting His divine intervention to change me. Yet I remain stuck. Instead of reveling in transforming grace, I’m just tired. Can you relate?

According to Scripture, the absence of grace suggests a lack of faith. You might know the Scriptures.

  • We gain access “by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Romans 5:2).
  • God saves us by His grace, through our faith (Ephesians 2:8).

Our faith looses God’s grace into our circumstances. If I’m missing grace, I must have a problem with faith.

The issue can’t be that I don’t have enough faith. God’s Word promises we only need faith as small as a mustard seed to see mountains move (Matthew 17:20).

So maybe the problem has been that I’ve tried to surrender in obedience without trust.

If I get honest with myself, that’s where I’ve been. I’ve tried to obey God because I know that I’m supposed to, but I haven’t been agreeing with Him in my heart and trusting that what He’s asking of me is really the best choice. I’ve been going through the motions, but my heart wasn’t in it.

Surrender wrapped in rebellion. Ouch.

This story I read in Kelly Minter’s No Other Gods about her niece might help you understand what I’m talking about. When the little girl’s behavior in a store led her mother to make her sit down on a bench, she crossed her arms and said, “I’m sitting down on the outside, but in my heart I’m standing up.”

I’m guessing you can relate. Have you ever obeyed God on the outside but rebelled against Him in your heart?

Jonah offers a clear example of this struggle and demonstrates what can result. You know the story. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against their wickedness. Jonah decided he’d rather jump on the nearest ship to Tarshish. 

After a storm at sea and three days tossing about in the belly of a fish, God gave Jonah a second chance. Once again, He sent Jonah to Nineveh. Jonah preached, and the people repented. The entire city was saved from God’s wrath.

You might think this would be cause for great celebration, but the preacher had a different response.

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah 4:1-3

Jonah had surrendered in obedience to God, but he did it with a hard heart. He didn’t trust that God was doing the right thing, that God’s way in the matter was right. He simply didn’t agree with Him. Jonah didn’t think the people deserved God’s grace or His mercy. And the fact that God gave it made him angry, angry enough to want to die.

He obeyed God, but he couldn’t trust Him with Nineveh’s future. He surrendered His will without trusting God’s purpose. That lack of trust robbed him of joy and made him just plain miserable. Kind of offers a new perspective on Isaiah 28:16b, doesn’t it?

“The one who trusts will never be dismayed.”

I wonder. How often do we pray to forgive someone because we know God wants us to, but we don’t experience His transforming grace because our hearts aren’t in it? We don’t really want to let them off the hook. Or maybe we take a step of obedience at God’s insistence, but our heart remains so hard that we can’t experience the blessing meant to come from it.

Perhaps we need to ask God to help us change our wayward hearts. Like the disciples, we can cry out to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5)

Dear one, God does want us to surrender our wills, but to encounter grace, we also need to trust Him from the heart. Surrender wrapped in trust just might move your mountain.

Help me, Jesus. I surrender all.

Rest for the Weary

I have nothing to offer you today. Seriously.

I sat at my computer several times over the last few days praying for divine inspiration to share with you. What do they need, Lord? What do you want to speak through me?

Several times I felt I had a direction, and my fingers began to move across the keyboard. They stopped moving after about the second paragraph. Going nowhere.

I have to admit it’s been frustrating. And I’m not used to it. I prefer when God weaves a message together nice and early in advance of my deadlines. Not so this week. Like I said, frustrating.

I have a feeling He’s trying to teach me something. After all, Jesus has been speaking one word into my life for several weeks now.

Rest.

I don’t believe He’s telling me I need to take a vacation, although Scripture clearly points to the need for Sabbath rest. I’m talking about resting in Him.

I think it’s one of those things we talk about but usually don’t know how to do. I’ll admit, it’s my nature to struggle with this one.

But God promises in Isaiah 46:4,

“I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

Yet very often we fall short of experiencing that promise. Instead, we find ourselves striving so hard we’re exhausted. And frustrated.

Like when I tried to will a blog into existence. Or should I say, when I tried to get God to give it to me in my timing instead of His.

I’ve discovered that when I try to force my will on God, I always end up weary.

God wants to carry us, dear one, but sometimes we’re so busy trying to make things happen that we don’t allow Him room to move. Our self-sufficiency blocks the flow of His power.

You and I need to learn to rest in Jesus.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

Jesus always keeps His promises, beloved. He kept this one to me today.

You see, I’ve also discovered firsthand that He sends us what we need if we will open our hearts to receive it. And He’s always right on time, even if it is Tuesday evening and later than I would like. So when my girlfriend called late this afternoon to share something with me, I didn’t tell her I couldn’t talk because I had to write my blog. Instead, I listened. And we talked. And then we prayed.

And prayer has a way of releasing things.

Phone in hand, I moved to my knees on my living room floor and for a few moments stopped thinking about my own frustration. I let the Lord lead us in prayer for a dear sister and friend who is struggling under the weight of oppression. We wept together in intercession for several people God placed on our hearts to lift before the throne. Precious minutes turned to half an hour.

And Christ met us there. I can say that with certainty because He promises He will.

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20

As we finished our time together, my friend prayed for me on the phone, asking the Father to provide what I needed. And God spoke. Just write from where you are.

So I started typing without a direction in mind, without a Scripture to anchor the teaching. I have nothing to offer you today. I just trusted He’d take me somewhere. Apparently, He did, because I seem to still be typing.

Come to think of it, isn’t that what faith is supposed to look like? At least, that’s how it began when God first called Abraham.

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” Genesis 12:1

God asked Abraham to leave behind everything he knew and follow Him to a land he’d never seen. He had nothing but a promise to hold onto, “I will show you.”

Faith looks pretty similar in the New Testament as well.  Jesus didn’t tell the disciples where they were going in advance. He simply said, “Follow me.”

Dear one, faith isn’t about working hard, or having the answers up front before we trust God. It’s about drawing near to Jesus and trusting Him to lead you into the unknown, beyond the boundaries of what you have planned.

That’s a pretty scary place for most of us. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Because the Lord who promised to lead and carry you means to “prosper you and not to harm you” (Jeremiah 29:11). He intends to lead you into a beautiful future.

It’s only scary if you don’t believe.